[Ads-l] big apple

Cohen, Gerald Leonard gcohen at MST.EDU
Tue Feb 4 01:51:16 UTC 2020


More information on the whole topic of “the big apple” may be found in
the book I coauthored with Barry Popik: _Origin Of New York City’s Nickname
“The Big Apple”_, 2nd, revised and expanded edition, (Frankfurt am Main:
Peter Lang Verlag), 2011.

See also Barry Popik’s extraordinary website barrypopik.com .

Gerald Cohen


Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 3, 2020, at 6:59 PM, David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com> wrote:
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Daniel <dad at COARSECOURSES.COM>
> Subject:      big apple
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I've been watching old Perry Mason shows. Very cool, as well as
> nostalgia-ridden. Anyway, the episode I'm watching now (air date Nov 15,
> 1958) is about horse racing and Perry is defending a jockey accused of
> murder (of course he didn't do it). So Perry and Paul Drake are talking to
> the trainer who was the jockey's boss, and the trainer is talking about how
> you move up in the racing world. You start off small, etc. etc., and then
> one day you make it to the Big Apple. "The Big Apple?" Perry asks. "Yeah,"
> says the trainer, "Saratoga, Belmont..." meaning the big ones. Perry had
> never heard the term and there is no direct reference to New York, except of
> course that both those tracks are in New York. It's strictly treated as
> racing jargon. (A side note on these shows: I have watched about 45 of them
> now and have yet to see a black actor, not one. Feels very bizarre. Also
> everyone except Della Street is constantly - constantly - smoking.)
> DAD
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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